URC Digital R50 universal remote gets reviewed

Universal Remote's URC Digital R50 was recently taken in by the home theater junkies at BigPictureBigSound, and overall, the $149 (MSRP) device was well liked. In fact, critics had mostly positive things to say, noting that it was able to handle a dozen or so devices without a hiccup... after the somewhat painful setup procedure was complete, that is. The major knocks came during setup; for starters, it would "forget" your progress if you let it sit idle for awhile, and if you realize you need to insert pauses into a macro, you'll have to recreate the entire macro. Outside of a few minor niggles, though, the R50 performed admirably enough to net a three out of four star rating. Hit the read link to see if it's right for you.

[Swackhammer1 Posted Dec 26th 2008 6:05PM]

When will people start putting IR AND Bluetooth support in these controllers!? Why should we have to buy a separate box just to convert IR to Bluetooth?

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 27th 2008 12:50AM]

Because any "universal" remote company caters to the custom home theater industry, which is dominated by RF and IR. It's not cost effective to build a bluetooth remote that only works with one box (PS3). Tell Sony to get on board with every other company and stop being so proprietary.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 27th 2008 1:35AM]

BT is growing in popularity. No reason to limit the device to just IR. Many laptops have BT, so this would allow for updating the remote without ever connecting it!

BTW, why is it Harmony still seems to own this market? i've had my Harmony since 2003 and it's fantastic!

[kcmurphy88 Posted Dec 27th 2008 3:30AM]

There is exactly one popular device that has a bluetooth remote. IR and bluetooth are COMPLETELY different things. Matter of fact, RF remote frequencies and bluetooth are completely different things.

Stop bothering everyone and complain to the idiots that caused the problem: Sony.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 27th 2008 6:48PM]

Logitech doesn't "own" any remote market. Maybe in the consumer world. But not in the custom install industry. Universal Remote, RTI and Phillips are the major players here (besides Crestron and AMX). Bluetooth is basically useless as a remote technology. It's not growing in popularity as a remote technology, maybe with bluetooth headsets, keyboards and mice, but not remotes. There's no way to remotely locate a Playstation 3 beyond the range of Bluetooth; which is what, 30 feet? RF can be extended hundreds of feet.